Venkaiah Naidu sworn in as India’s 13th Vice-President

Newly-elected Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu took over as Chairman of Rajya Sabha soon after taking oath as the 13th Vice-President of India. Welcoming the new Rajya Sabha Chairman, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Venkaiah Naidu is the first Vice-President of the country who was born in an independent India.” He added that all the experience as a Rajya Sabha member will help Naidu in taking charge of the proceedings in the House. “He is the only Vice-President to hold the high office who is aware of all the proceedings of the parliament from his long experience,” PM Modi said.

PM Modi further praised Indian democracy and said that for the first time all the top positions in the country are filled by people coming from humble background. Wishing best wishes to Naidu for his tenure as Vice-President, Modi said, “Amal karo aisa sadan mein,jahan se guzre tumhari nazrein, udhar se tumhe salaam aaye (Do such work in Parliament, that you get salute from everywhere).”

After PM Modi, Leader of Opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad congratulated Naidu for becoming the Chairman of Rajya Sabha. Azad praised his humble beginnings and said his rise in his own party and later as vice-president of the country is commendable. “This is a sign of the success of our democracy. It leaves no difference between poor and rich,” he said. Azad said that when a political leader becomes a vice-president of India, he becomes a non-party person. “You have been given a rare opportunity to do justice, without any bias in mind,” he said. Every public representative has the freedom to speak in Rajya Sabha session, Azad said. “We have to take responsibilities of the public as well as the legislatures who have elected us, and hence the importance of the House should never go down,” he added.